Sunrise
by Felinephoenix
Summary: In the Hork-Bajir Camp, Marco's Dad tries to figure out his relationship with his ex-wife. Warning, super-sappy!


Author's Note: This is dedicated to my best bud Sarisia, who inspired me to write this, and Li who kept encouraging me to finish this thing. And muchos gracias, MimiChica, for telling me Marco's Dad's name!  
All that aside, here's a bit of fluff (albeit angsty fluff) I wrote to appease my raging inner romantic. Enjoy.

* * *

**Sunrise**

* * *

"It's been forever since I saw the sunrise."

I sighed and put my arm around her. She smiled and laid her head down on my lap.  
"Could you pinch me again?" She asked me, turning on the puppy dog eyes.  
"You're not dreaming." I said. "We're not dreaming."  
"I know." My ex-wife said. She gripped my fingers so hard it hurt. "It's just that there were so many days where I stopped hoping I'd ever see you or Marco again. It's so..."  
I leaned down and rose her face to mine. "Over now."

She pulled away from me.

For a second, I stopped breathing. Without warning, I realized she looked so much like Nora.  
I'd never noticed before.  
I'd never had the time to notice.

"It's never going to be over." She whispered.  
"Sure, we might be safe, but everyday our little boy is fighting this war, and it's not going to be over until he and his friends win." Eva looked down at the ground. "Maybe not even then."  
"I know that." I spat, grimacing at my own bitterness.  
But I put it aside. I didn't want to talk about the war now. Looking at the woman who, after all these years, I still loved--I remembered why I'd brought her out here in the first place.  
I remembered the thing I needed to know.

"What about us?" I asked her, feeling my voice go soft.   
She shrugged. "We sit on the sidelines."  
"You know what I mean."

She sighed, looked at the sky, and back to me. "I don't know." She whispered. "It's been so long."  
She started to twirl her hair through her fingers. It was an old habit, something she did when she was stressed.  
"I hoped that, you know, you'd find someone. I didn't want you give up on life." Eva told me.  
I started to open my mouth, but I couldn't tell her that I had given up, that I wouldn't let go.  
I didn't want her to know what a helpless hack I'd become, what a bad father I was to Marco...

She didn't need to know that.  
But I had to tell her---

"I did find someone." I said. She turned to look at me, and I had to turn away to avoid her face.  
"A math teacher. Um, Marco's, actually." I laughed. "She was fun, smart. You would've liked her."  
"I bet I would." Eva said.  
I shrugged. "Doesn't matter now. She was, well, Marco tells me she was..."  
Eva put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry." She said.  
"It doesn't matter anymore." I repeated. Eva's face twisted, confused. "What do you mean?"  
"She's gone now. Odds are I'm not getting her back." I said.  
"Peter, don't say that!" Eva reprimanded me. "If I even want her back." I added.  
Then I took a deep breath, swallowed, and said it. "I still love you."  
Eva didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. I could read her like a book.  
She didn't know if she should believe me.

"I didn't even know her, Eva. Whoever I knew was playing a part. No matter how well they played it, no matter how I felt, it was an act. You should know that." I said.  
"Believe me, I do." My ex-wife said. "And that's one of the reasons I don't know what we should do! I mean, once I got infested, I wasn't _me_ anymore! It wasn't me picking up Marco from school, it wasn't me griping out his teachers and it _wasn't_ me kissing you, it wasn't me making love to you...you don't even know me anymore."  
"But I do." I said, stepping up to her. "I was married to you for eight years, okay, okay, six years thanks to that Yeerk bitch, but I'd say that'd qualify as knowing you!" I shouted.  
"No!" She gasped. Her knees locked and I grabbed her before she could hit the ground.  
When I saw her face my heart shattered. Tears were flowing down her eyes and I knew they weren't tears of joy. "This isn't how it's supposed to be."  
Eva swallowed and wiped her eyes. "I'm not supposed to be afraid of you, I'm not supposed to jerk away at that look in Marco's eyes--he's not even supposed to have that look in his eyes--things are supposed to be like they were!"  
"They are!" I said, looking her straight in the eye. "We're together again."  
"We'll always be together." I murmurmed, running my hands through her hair as she sobbed on my shoulder.

Minutes flowed into moments and soon she was laying tired, exhausted, in my arms.

"Looks like the sun rose." I whispered.  
Eva turned to face the sky and smiled. "Shame we had to miss it."  
I grinned and let my lips graze her neck, relived she didn't stop me. "We could make up for it."  
She scowled and shoved me away. "It's five o'clock in the morning!"  
This time, I went for the killer-grin. "So?"  
"We'll wake one of the kids up!" She hissed.  
"We've never woken up Marco." I muttered, putting my face in her hair.  
"He's a deep sleeper, you horny jerk." Then she frowned. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since this afternoon. Where is he?"  
"Uh--he said something about the Andalite kid having a TV." I said. "I think."  
Again, Eva frowned, but then she shrugged. "All right. Now you," She pointed forward. "Go inside."

I knew as well as she did that our cot was inside.

"And stop smirking at me before I change my mind."  
"Yes m'am."

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End file.
